Our Story
Miracles Happen Every Day
Mira Winery is a name inspired by the Latin root of “miracle” and Greek for “destiny.” Co-Founder/Winemaker Gustavo A. Gonzalez’s long-held approach to winemaking is one of intention, precision and artistry. Using only sustainably farmed, 100% Napa Valley fruit, Gustavo allows each wine to reveal itself in its own time as a deliciously magical snapshot of a time and place, meant to be shared now and for years to come.
A chance meeting that changed everything.
Miracles happen every day in a variety of ways both small and large from the growing season that produces the grapes, to a chance meeting, to sometimes just getting through a day. Mira’s miraculous journey began one spring evening in 2005, when two guys—Napa winemaker Gustavo Gonzalez and entrepreneur Jim “Bear” Dyke, Jr.—walked into the Off the Record bar at DC’s Hay Adams hotel. “I had just finished hosting a winemaker dinner,” recalls Gustavo. “I was having a beer and talking with the bartender when Bear walked in and we struck up a conversation.” The two discovered a shared love of wine while Gustavo discussed his fascination with mathematics, in particular the perfect beauty of the Golden Ratio and its relationship to the Fibonnacci sequence, a mathematical concept used at least since the ancient Greeks and Egyptians that is expressed in nature, architecture, art and even the stock market.
Gustavo noted that while he was happy as the head red winemaker at Robert Mondavi Winery, “Like a lot of winemakers we all dream of having our own little side project.” He explained how it doesn’t take infrastructure or a big investment to get started, just relationships that give you access to high quality fruit and a nearby custom crush facility. “I had heard plenty of stories about how difficult the wine business can be, so Gustavo’s perspective was surprising to me,” says Bear. “And Gustavo is such a deep talent, so real and passionate, that it left me wondering if this could be something special.” A few hours and a few glasses of wine later, the two new friends parted with the idea of starting a winery together someday.
A Golden Opportunity
Our Team
Gustavo A. Gonzalez
Winemaker
Jim “Bear” Dyke
Proprietor
Molly Pearson
Society 610 Club Coordinator & Customer Service
Heather Mathias
CFO
Golden Ratio
The Mira brand and wines were designed around the Golden Ratio
The golden ratio is best approximated by the Fibonacci sequence and is at the heart of architecture, art and nature. It is also at the heart of Mira from our first connection and our Ovum, the winery’s wooden, egg-shaped fermenter. Ovum embodies the Golden Ratio in both form and function, allowing for fermentation to mix itself naturally inside the egg.
Finance
“Fibonacci retracement” is a tool that technical analysts use to guide their outlook about buying and selling behavior in markets. This technique is named after and derived from the famous Fibonacci sequence, a set of numbers with properties related to many natural phenomena. While using these numbers to predict market movements is a lot less certain than using it to calculate sunflower seed patterns, the appearance of the sequence in the field of finance is yet another testament to its power in capturing the human imagination.
Architecture
The Fibonacci sequence and is often used in architecture and art because it is believed to produce aesthetically pleasing divisions and proportions. In many cases, the golden ratio was applied later during the analysis of the artwork/building, and the eye sees what it wants to see.
Art
One very famous piece, known as the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, is drawn according to the golden ratio. If we divide that rectangle with a line drawn across her eyes, we get another golden rectangle, meaning that the proportion of her head length to her eyes is golden.
Nature
Many examples of Fibonacci numbers are found in phenotypic structures of plants and animals. Indeed, Fibonacci numbers often appear in number of flower petals, spirals on a sunflower or nautilus shell, starfish, and fractions that appear in phyllotaxis [4, 18, 10]. Another simple example in which it is possible to find the Fibonacci sequence in nature is given by the number of petals of flowers. Most have three (like lilies and irises), five (parnassia, rose hips) or eight (cosmea), 13 (some daisies), 21 (chicory), 34, 55 or 89 (asteraceae).